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A DISCOURSE 



PRONOUNCED AT 



THE CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES, 



In the Hall of Representatives, 



BEFORE THB 



AMERICAN HISTORICAL. SOCIETY, 



January 30, 1836, 



BY THE HON. LEWIS CASS, 



PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. 



TO WHICH ARK. PRKFIXED ITS CONSTITUTION AND THE NAMES OF ITS OFFICERS. 



WASHINGTON: 

P. THOMPSON. 

1836. 




"i- fe T 



■ L 



WASHiNarON, February 2, 1836. 

Sir : We have the honor to present the enclosed Vote of Thanks, unanimously 
adopted by the American Historical Society, for the very able, learned, and elo- 
quent Discourse delivered before the Society on the 30th ultimo, in the Hall of 
Representatives; and to ask of you a copy for publication. 
We have the honor to be, 

Your obedient servants, 

GEO. WATTERSTON, \ 
FRANCIS MARKOE, Jun., \ CommitUe. 
PETER FORCE, ) 

The Hon. Lewls Cas.s, Secretary of War, and 

President of the American Historical Society. 



American Historical Society, 

Tuesday, February 2, 183G. 
Resolved, That the Thanks of the Society be presented to the Hon. Lewis Cass, 
for his learned, able, and eloquent Discourse delivered before the Society in the 
Hall of the House of Representatives on the evening of Saturday last. 

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to present to the Hon. Lewis Cass 
the Vote of Thanks of this Society, and to ask of him a copy of his Discourse for 
publication. 

Whereupon, Messrs. Watterston, Markoe, and Force were appointed a Com- 
mittee for that purpose. 

A true extract from the minutes : 

HENRY M. MORFIT, 

Recording Secretary. 



Washington, February 10^ 183G. 

Gentlemen : In compliance with your request, I place at your disposal a copy 

of the Address recently delivered before the American Historical Society. 

While I am duly sensible to the regard manifested by this application, and by 

the flattering terms in which your sentiments and those of the Society have been 

conveyed, I am yet aware that I owe to your kindness, and not to any value which 

the production possesses, the interest you have shown on this occasion. 

Very respectfully, 

Your most obedient servant^ 

LEWIS CASS. 
George Watter.ston, ^ 

Francis Markoe, Jun., > Committee. 

Peter Force, Esqrs. ) 



CONSTITUTION, 



1. The Society shall be ilenoininated " The American Historical Society." 

2. The objects of the Society shall be to discover, procure, and preserve what- 
ever may relate to the Natural, Civil, Literary, and Ecclesiastical History of Amer- 
ica in general, and of the United States in particular. 

3. The Society shall consist of resident, corresponding, and honorary members. 
The resident members shall be persons residing in the District of Columbia; the 
corresponding and honorary members shall be persons residing elsewhere. 

4. The Officers of the Society shall be chosen, by ballot, from the resident mem- 
bers, on the fourth Thursday in October, annually, and shall consist of a Presi- 
dent, First and Second Vice Presidents, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding 
Secretary, a Treasurer, a Librarian, and a Standing Committee of nine members. 

5. The Society shall meet quarterly, to wit : on the fourth Thursday in Janu- 
ary, April, July, and October; but the President, or in his absence either of the 
Vice Presidents, may, on the request of any two members, call a special meeting. 

G. Officers shall be elected, members admitted, and by-laws altered, only at a 
quarterly meeting. 

7. All resident members shall pay, on admission, the sum of five dollars, and an 
additional sum of three dollars annually. 

8. Resident members shall be admitted only at the quarterly meeting in January. 

9. All members shall be chosen by ballot ; nominations of members may be 
made by any member of the Society, but no member sh&ll nominate more than one 
candidate at the same meeting, and all nominations shall be made at a quarterly 
meeting previous to that at which the ballot is to be taken. 

10. For the election of members, as well as for making alterations in, or addi- 
tions to the By-laws and Regulations of the Society, it shall be necessary that 
nine members be present, and that two-thirds vote in the affirmative ; but for the 
transaction of other business, five members shall constitute a quorum. 

n. At the request of any two members present, the ballot upon any nomination 
of a member, or the vote upon any motion, shall be deferred to another quarterly 
meeting, for further consideration, before it is finally acted on, and shall then be 
taken up. 

12. The Constitution may be amended from time to time, as the Society shall 
deem proper ; but a motion for an amendment shall not be received except at a 
quarterly meeting, nor unless a notice thereof shall have been given and entered on 
the journal at the last preceding quarterly meeting. 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 



LEWIS CASS, President. 

VIRGIL MAXCY, First Vice President. 

WILLIAM W. SEATON, Second Vice President. 

HENRY M. MORFIT, Recording Secretary. 

PETER FORCE, Corresponding Secretary. 

WILLIAM GUNTON, Treasurer. 

LEWIS H. MACHEN, Librarian. 



STANDING COMMITTEE. 



William Cranch, 
James Kearney, 
Francis Markoe, Jun., 
Philip R. Fendall, 
Richard S. Coxe, 
Joseph H. Bradley, 
George Watterston, 
Aaron O. Dayton, 
PigHEY Thompson. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



On the 12th of October, 1835 — the Anniversary of the Discovery of America — 
a. Society was formed in the Metropolis of the Union, under the title of the Ameri- 
can Historical Society. The objects of the institution are declared in the 2d article 
of its constitution to be "to discover, procure, and preserve whatever may relate to 
"the Natural, Civil, Literary, and Ecclesiastical History of America in general, 
" and of the United States in particular." On the request of the Society, the fol- 
lowing Introductory Discourse was pronounced by the President. The first volume 
of its Transactions is now in the press, and will speedily be pubhshed. 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the American Historical Society : 

In looking back upon the history of man, it is obvious that 
different ages of the world have been distinguished by differ- 
ent characteristics. The progress of events has, from time to 
time, been marked by some predominating trait, communi- 
cating its impress to the moral circumstances around it ; and 
the aspect of human life is brighter or darker, as this con- 
trolling principle is worthy or unworthy of the race of beings 
placed, by the creation of God, in their present state of ac- 
countability, and endowed with powers, whose extent, after 
an existence of sixty centuries, is unknown to us, but whose 
use or abuse constitutes the advancement or retardation of 
individuals and of societies. It is thus, that prismatic rays 
tinge with their hues, while they illumine with their light, 
the objects upon which they are cast. 

In the contest for this ascendency over the great world of 
mind, sometimes the passions of mankind have gained sway 
and held it for ages ; and wars, social, political, and religious, 
have spread desolation over the earth, and have marked their 
progress, not less by moral than by physical evils. Then the 
intellectual powers have asserted their supremacy ; at one 
time, for purposes merely speculative, and at another, for 
practical action. The one state is illustrated by that wonder- 
ful but puerile system of logomachy, which so long passed 
for philosophy, and which has come down to us as a splendid 
monument of human wisdom and of human folly ; and the 
other, by those efforts at rational improvement, whose full 
operation has been reserved for our days. These social 
paroxysms, though unequal in their intensity and duration, 
2 



10 

are yet sufficiently perceptible in their operation, whenever 
we look out upon that ocean of the past, on the brink of 
which we stand, and where we must soon be. 

Who can study that most interesting chapter of the history 
of man, which records the wars of the crusades, without 
being struch with amazement at the derangement of the 
human itntellect, which it exhibits, and at the universal 
mastery which the passion for these expeditions obtained 
over the nations of Christendom ? — when Europe precipitated 
itself upon Asia, and, in the phrensy of a false zeal, exhausted 
its energies, means and people, in efforts to conquer a barren 
region, and to obtain possession of places, hallowed indeed by 
the scenes they had witnessed, but given over to desolation ? 

Who can look back upon the age of chivalry, and not 
wonder at the absolute dominion it acquired, with its fantastic 
ceremonies, its artificial code of manners, not of morals, 
its iron heart, and steel-clad hand ? The feudal institutions — 
I do not speak of them as a system of civil polity, but as a 
series of events, occupying the attention and guiding the 
opinions of society, — the feudal institutions are placed in promi- 
nent view, by this retrospect, among the causes, which have 
exercised the most decided influence upon the progress of na- 
tions in modern times : and, as this influence declined, those 
excitements arose, which led to the dismemberment of the Ca- 
tholic church, and ultimately to the establishment of the various 
sects, which now divide the Christian world. Human nature 
probably never displayed higher or lower qualities than dis- 
closed themselves in this contest — sometimes of argument, but 
too often of blood ! The ordinary business of life seemed to be 
suspended, and every man brought his tribute of reason, or force, 
or wealth, or life, and freely offered it upon the altar, which 
zeal and enthusiasm had erected. What sternness of pur- 
pose, what strength of affection, what disregard of all self- 
ish considerations, what power of conscience, what contempt 
of life, were manifested during this interesting conflict ! 



11 

The spirit of maritime discovery presents another agent in 
the history of this moral impetus, which, for wise purposes, 
has operated, and is operating, upon the social institutions of 
mankind. This powerful stimulus was brought into action at 
a most fortunate period, and maintained its ascendency till its 
great work was done — till it had sought and found, towards 
the rising and the setting sun, those regions which were hid- 
den from the philosopher, but which had been revealed to the 
inspiration of the poet, who foretold the time would come, 
when new regions would be discovered beyond the furthest 
limits known to the ancient world. 

The love of gold then predominated, and chivalry and 
avarice associated together — sending Cortez, and Pizarro, and 
Almagro to the climes of the new world, blessed with the 
bounties of nature, but cursed with those precious metals 
which were possessed by the weak, and coveted by the strong : 
and here, courage worthy of the most distinguished age of 
the world, and cruelty too execrable for description, came 
down upon the ignorant and wondering population, and in- 
volved emperors, and incas, and people, in one common de- 
struction. 

Our own age has been denominated the age of move- 
ments ; of advancement in the intellectual faculties ; of im- 
provement in all those principles and pursuits which are most 
essential to the happiness of man, and most conducive to the 
dignity of human nature. Onward is the great word of our 
time. In the story so beautifully told by the historian of the 
Roman empire, the seven youths of Ephesus laid down to 
sleep, and awoke, after the lapse of two centuries, in the 
midst of a changed world, but unchanged themselves. He 
who should fall into such a slumber, in this period of moral 
acceleration, might arise, after a much briefer interval, and 
walk abroad into a world far more transformed than that, 
which met the wondering view of the Ephesian sleepers 
when their trance was broken, and they looked out from their 
living cemetery upon the fair face of nature. 



12 

It were a task too extensive for this time and place, to 
investigate all the causes which have produced this moral im- 
petus, and which are now in active operation to strengthen our 
faculties, to increase our knowledge, to multiply our com- 
forts, and to elevate us in that mysterious scale of being, 
vs^hich it may be we are destined to ascend, indefinitely and 
forever: still approaching, though still infinitely remote, from, 
the great Author and Arbiter of our being. 

It is obvious however to the most superficial observer, 
that the scope of free inquiry has been enlarged, and its 
operation invigorated by the removal of many of those pre- 
judices, which always adhere with great tenacity to human 
institutions. " Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place 
whereon thou standest is holy," was the miraculous injunc- 
tion which issued from the burning bush, when the deliverer 
of Israel appeared in the presence of the Most High. Men 
have profanely claimed the same characteristic for institutions 
hallowed by time, but shown by time to be useless, and often 
worse. Not that I mean to assert that the lessons of experi- 
ence should be neglected, or changes introduced, without just 
reason to anticipate improvement ; but that the sanctity of age 
should not shroud, as with a mantle, systems not adapted to 
the present state of society, and whose only claim to regard 
rests upon what they have been, not what they are. 

The division of mental labor has not been less useful than 
that of mechanical. The concentration of human efforts, 
like the concentration of physical causes, produces increased 
energy. This is a law of our system, and extends its sway 
into all the departments of life, whether active or speculative. 
It belongs to literature, to science, and to the arts. Too 
much diffusion is fatal to precise investigation ; and he who 
seeks great accuracy of knowledge, must seek it, not only by 
long study, but by confining himself to a few of the vast 
variety of objects, which the progress of information presents 
to him. The great divisions, indeed, of human investigation 



13 

have a relation more or less intimate with one another ; and 
a general acquaintance with all is necessary to the character 
and purposes of the scholar. This may be attained by proper 
industry ; but, when the acquisition is made, those who are 
ambitious of further distinction, or who are desirous of asso- 
ciating their names with the advancement of knowledge, must 
concentrate their efforts, and resign themselves to some favor- 
ite pursuit. The habit of indiscriminate application was 
one of the great faults of antiquity, and, conjoined with a 
presumption which limited the operations of nature in the 
world, both of mind and matter, within the categories of the 
scholiasts, retarded, for many centuries, the progress of mental 
improvement. 

Another agent in this process of advancement, and one 
with which we are here intimately connected, is the system 
of associations, that have been formed for the cultivation of 
particular branches of knowledge. These co-operative socie- 
ties are the invention of modern times ; and, in the form in 
which they now exist, they came into being at the end of 
that long night of ignorance and imbecility, which shrouded 
the intellect of the world, from the decline of the Roman 
empire till the revival of learning in these later ages. There 
were, indeed, celebrated schools where the principles of 
ancient knowledge were taught : and two of these, the Acad- 
emy and the Lyceum of Athens, are well known to all 
scholars, from the peculiarity of their doctrines, the high 
reputation of their masters, and the number and celebrity of 
the pupils. But the teachers were lecturers, expounding 
their peculiar views to disciples and partial admirers ; and 
their lectures were didactic essaj s, too often intended to dis- 
play the pride of the rhetorician, rather than to advance the 
purposes of science, or to afford instruction to inquirers after 
truth. 

But our institutions of mutual labor, in the departments of 
modern learning, proceed upon other and better principles. 



14 

In these voluntary associations, the members are animated 
with a kindred spirit, and devoted to kindred pursuits ; and 
their organization is admirably adapted to promote the ob- 
jects of the institutions. An esprit de corps is created, which 
ensures a unity of purpose and of action, while an emulation 
is excited, which stimulates the exertions of individuals. A 
repository is thus formed for the preservation of useful collec- 
tions. The public attention is awakened, and its favor lightens 
the toils and aids the researches of the members. It is in the 
practical sciences, in history, and in the fine arts, that these 
combinations have been most usual and most useful. Our 
own country has given her full share to the general stock of 
these contributions, and we have this night assembled to add 
another to the number. 

The object, we have assigned to ourselves, is sufficiently 
extensive and important for all the zeal and industry we can 
bring to the task. It is to aid in the collection and preser- 
vation of the historical materials, illustrative of the history of 
the American continent in general, and more particularly, of 
the history of that favored portion of it, in which our lots have 
been cast. 

I did not come here to discuss the value of historical 
knowledge. Such a work of supererogation were little 
suited to our age and country ; and least of all to this im- 
posing hall, which the courtesy of the national representa- 
tives has opened to us, and which is already sanctified by the 
names and the memory of patriots and statesmen, who will 
live in the pages of their country's story, after these marble 
columns shall have mouldered into dust. It may be, that 
some future Marius may sit upon the ruins of this proud edi- 
fice, as the Roman outlaw sat upon the ruins of Carthage. 
The lesson which his life has taught may be useful to us ; 
and, if neglected, the new lesson our fate may teach will, 
perhaps, be useful to the generations, who are to succeed us, 
and who will look back to our days and deeds, as we now 



15 

look back to those of the early aj^es of the world. The value 
of the application of such events to the practical action of the 
present and the future cannot be too highly appreciated ; and 
the importance of historical researches is placed in prominent 
relief by the consideration, that our experience is thus en- 
larged, from the narrow space of three score years and ten, 
to the series of ages, which have witnessed the birth and 
growth, the decay and death of the generations, that have 
preceded us. 

History, indeed, when justly estimated, is not a mere 
record of facts. These, certainly, are essential to its truth, 
which is the first and greatest virtue of an historian. But he 
must have a higher and nobler aim, if he seek to interest or 
instruct mankind. He must trace the motives and causes of 
actions to their results. He must delineate the characters 
of those master-spirits, whose deeds he portrays, and hang 
them upon the outer wall, as spectacles for admiration or 
reprobation. He must boldly censure, where censure is due, 
and applaud Avhere virtue is exhibited. But the duty as- 
signed to me is an humbler one than that of delineating the 
qualifications, and describing the functions of an historian. 
This must be left to those more able to perform it, while I 
proceed to trace, in a very general manner, the purposes of 
this society. 

As our object is general, our local position is favorable. 
Here assemble the representatives of the nation ; here are 
brought, by business, or amusement, or curiosity, citizens from 
every portion of the Republic ; and the national archives, con- 
taining the most authentic materials for the illustration of our 
history, are here deposited. It may well be hoped, that the 
dictates of a liberal patriotism, the spirit of enlightened re- 
search, the just claims of literature will send to our assist- 
ance many, who have the means and the inclination to rescue 
from destruction and oblivion, important documents and facts. 
Unaided, but little can be done. Our efforts can bear no just 



1 ; 

proportion lo the magnitude of a plan which, in the ardor of a 
first hope, has received our sanction. 

Our position, likewisSj furnishes opportunities for corre- 
sponding with those foreign countries, which planted their 
colonies upon this continent ; which sent out their people, 
some for an extension of territoiy, some for the acquisition 
of gold, and some for the maintenance of the rights of con- 
science, to found mighty empires in this new world, whose 
progress now arrests the attention of mankind. Researches 
into the bureaus of those Governments may elucidate much 
that is dark, and confirm much that is doubtful, in the earlier 
periods of our history. And no American can peruse the 
memoir of Sebastian Cabot, which we owe to the learning 
and industry of one of our countrymen, without being sen- 
sible of the important advantages, which may result from a 
patient examination of the documents, which are preserved 
in various public offices in London, and which are opened 
with liberal kindness to the inquiring stranger. In that in- 
teresting account of the discoverer of North America, many 
popular errors are corrected, and the first judicious narrative 
is given of the voyages of this intrepid mariner. 

x\nd another countryman, known to both hemispheres for 
the purity of his style and his graphic delineations, has 
sought, in the collections of Madrid, the most authentic ma- 
terials for his beautiful biography of the great discoverer — 
of him, who raised the veil which had so long separated the 
two worlds, and opened the way for those wonderful events, 
which, mighty as they are and have been, are yet but in the 
infancy of their operation ; which are yet but the small cloud, 
discerned on the edge of the horizon by the servant of the 
prophet, hut which are, by-and-by, to cover the face of 
nature. 

In the pursuit of our investigations, we have another ad- 
vantage from our situation. An extensive library has al- 
ready been collected, at the national expense, which contains 



17 

inany rare and valuable works, illustrating our general and 
local history. This collection is annually augmented, but not 
in proportion to the great means of the nation, nor with the 
rapidity demanded by the literary character we have ac- 
quired, and desired by every votary of liberal inquiry. 
There should be one place in our country, where every work 
may be found, which has any relation, however remote, to^ 
the discovery, settlement, and history of America ; and that 
place is here. Here, at the seat of empire of this great Re- 
public, the eldest of the family of cis-Atlantic states, and 
the zealous follower, and, we may hope, at no distant day, 
the generous rival of her fatherland in the career of intellect- 
ual advancement. And why should not such additions be 
made to this collection, in all the departments of human 
learning, as will render it worthy of the age and country, 
and elevate it to an equality with those greast repositories of 
knowledge, which are among the proudest ornaments of 
modern Europe ? This is the true luxury of Republican 
Governments, which the most zealous disciple of Lycurgus 
need not seek to restrain by sumptuary laws. VVe may leave 
to the splendid monarchies of the other hemisphere the 
decorations with which they surround their institutions, 
rejoicing that our own political edifice is free from any mere- 
tricious ornament. But the promotion of literature belongs 
to all ages, and nations, and governments. " Nor am I less 
persuaded," said the patriot first called to administer the 
present constitution, and whose memory is already sanctified 
by his virtues and services, " nor am I less persuaded," he 
said in his first address to Congress, after he had entered 
upon the execution of his duties, " that you will agree with 
me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve 
your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. 
Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public 
happiness. In one, in which the measures of government 
receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of 
3 



18 

the community as in ours, it is proportionably essential." 
Wonderful man ! Time is the great leveller of human pre- 
tensions. The judgment, which he pronounces upon men 
and their actions, is as just as it is irreversible. How few 
of the countless throng, who, in the brief day of their pride, 
looked down upon their fellow-men, or were looked up to 
by them, noAv live in the memory of mankind ! And as we 
recede from the periods, in which they lived and flourished, 
their fame becomes dimmer and dimmer, till it is extin- 
guished in darkness. The world has grown wiser in its 
estimate of human worth, and the fame of common heroes has 
become cheaper and cheaper. But we have one name, that 
can never die. One star, which no night of moral darkness 
can extinguish. It will shine on, brighter and brighter, till 
it is lost in the effulgence of that day, foretold in prophecy, 
and invoked in poetry, 

" When heaven its sparkling portals shall display, 
And break upon us in the flood of day ; 
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, 
Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn ; 
But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, 
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze 
O'erflow thy courts ; the light himself shall shine 
Revealed, and God's eternal day be thine." 

Happen what may to our country, this treasure can never 
be reft from her. Her cities may become like Tadmor, 
her fields like the Campagna, her ports like Tyre, and 
her hills like Gilboa, but, in all the wreck of her hopes, 
she may still proudly boast that she has given one man 
to the world, who devoted his best days to the service of 
his countrymen, without any other reward than their love 
and his own self- approbation ; who gladly laid down his 
arms, when peace was obtained ; who gladly relinquished 
supreme authority, when the influence of his character was 
no longer wanted to consolidate the infant institutions of the 



19 

Republic ; and who died, ripe in years and in glory, mourn- 
ed as few have been mourned before him, and reveied as 
few will be revered after him. Here, in this hall, whose 
foundations were laid by his own hand ; here, under this 
dome, which looks out upon the place of his sepulture ; 
here, in this city, named from his name, and selected for 
its high object by his choice, let us hope that his precepts 
will be heard, and his example heeded through all suceed- 
ing ages. And when these walls shall be time worn and 
time honored, and the American youth shall come up, as 
they will come up, to this temple of liberty, to meditate 
upon the past, and to contemplate the future, may they here 
find lessons and examples of wisdom and patriotism to study 
and to emulate. And when the votary of freedom shall 
make his pilgrimage to the tomb of Mount Vernon, and 
lay his hand upon the lowly cemetery, let him recall the 
virtues and bless the memory of WASHINGTON. 

When the diffusion of knowledge is recommended to the 
consideration of the Government by this authority, I may 
well be spared all effort to illustrate its importance. But 
its effects I may briefly advert to, in one splendid example 
of literary distinction, which exhibits the triumph of intel- 
lect during the long period of twenty centuries. The little 
territory of Attica, containing about thirty miles square, and 
half a million of inhabitants, furnishes a pregnant lesson for 
the world. There literature flourished, freedom prevailed, 
the arts and sciences were cultivated, and genius was hon- 
ored and rewarded. She sent out her armies and navies, 
wherever her interest or honor required. She repelled the 
Persian hordes from her land ; she gallantly maintained her 
independence for a long series of years, and she became 
the school of antiquity, imparting to all other countries the 
treasures of her knowledge. How proud a moment she 
now is, even in her desolation ! From the Ganges to the 
Saint Lawrence, where is the man of intelligence who does 



20 

not look upon her fallen fortunes with sorrow ; and upon 
her future fate with solicitude ? The Turk has ruled in 
the habitation of Pericles ; and the horse-tail has waved 
where the tegis was displayed. But the Parthenon still 
stands, though in ruins, yet in glory; a fit emblem of the 
country it adorned in its pride, and now hallows in its de- 
cay. And whence this triumph of the feeble over the strong? 
How happens it, that this small spot is, and has been, 
the revered one of the earth ? The school-boy upon the 
Missouri talks of the Ilissus. The ardent youth, who, at 
Bunker's hill and New Orleans, gazes with intense inter- 
est upon those fields of blood and renown, has room also 
in his heart for the stories of Marathon and of Salamis. 
The lover of the fine arts, who surveys the works of the 
chisel, which already in our country have almost fashioned 
the marble into life, still thinks of Praxiteles, and concurs 
in the universal opinion of artists, that the Venus de Med- 
icis is yet the model of statuary beauty. And the patriotic 
citizen, while he blesses God that he was born in the 
county of Warren, and Hancock, and Franklin, and Jeffer- 
son, casts a look of reverence upon the land of Socrates, 
and Plato, and Aristides. 

All this is the triumph of intellect ; the monument and 
the reward of public spirit and intelligence, and the evi- 
dence of private devotion to all those pursuits, which give 
to mind its ascendency over matter. 

It is not presumptuous, on this occasion, to hope, that our 
national library will soon be increased to an extent corre- 
sponding with the state of literature in our country, and 
with our rank in the family of nations. Some of the col- 
lections in Europe are of vast size and are the fruit of ages 
of exertion ; and it is honorable to many of the minor capi- 
tals that they are enriched with these repositories, at the 
public expense, which are open to all classes of the citizens. 



21 

Some of these magnificent collections contain nearly half a 
million of volumes, while the American Government has 
only about twenty-four thousand five hundred. In this, the 
day of our prosperity, an immediate augmentation, upon a 
large scale, with an annual provision for a permanent ade- 
quate increase, would meet the cordial approbation of every 
American, who regards the literary character of his country. 
The labors of this society embrace all materials relating 
to the history of the western hemisphere ; but its principal 
object is the collection and preservation of documents, elu- 
cidating the history of the United States. It is only by the 
comparison of conflicting accounts, that the truth of a nar- 
rative can be ascertained. Even in the daily occurrences 
of life, discrepances are found, when these are related by 
different persons, sometimes reconcilable and sometimes irre- 
concilable with one another. Passion, prejudice, interest, 
temperament, all these and other causes conspire to distort 
our views. The utilitarian value of history is in the lessons 
it teaches. We learn from it what were the results of hu- 
man actions under certain circumstances, and we deduce 
from it, what these results will again be, under similar cir- 
cumstances. The modifications, which the course of events 
is continually undergoing, furnish food for the imagination 
and the judgment, in the application of historic principles; 
and the power to deduce just conclusions from these is one 
of the highest attributes of the human intellect. It is the 
combination of personal observation and experience with 
deep study and reflection, upon the conduct of men in the 
infinite variety of circumstances, in which tliey have been 
placed, and the records of which constitute history. When 
the French revolution broke upon the world with its prodi- 
gies, all lovers of freedom were anxious that it should ter- 
minate in the establishment of a free and equal Government, 
and in the permanent political happiness of the French peo- 
ple. But while such was the universal wish in our country, 



22 

opinions were divided upon the result; and the patriot then 
at the head of the Government, in the exercise of his calm 
and inflexible judgment, soon discerned, in the course of 
events, signs of alarming portent, shadowing out that de- 
nouement which our own days have seen, and foretelling 
the downfall of freedom, and the re-establishment of an- 
cient institutions. In the natural world, certain causes are 
followed by certain effects ; and in the moral world, actions 
are preceded by motives and succeeded by events. There 
is "ample verge and room enough" between chance on 
the one hand and fatalism on the other, for the exercise of 
a liberal spirit of investigation ; and, without touching the 
vexed question which has perplexed metaphysicians, and 
divided Christians, we may all concede, what indeed cannot 
be doubted, that there is a connexion between motives and 
actions, and again between actions and motives, the extent 
of whose operations we can neither ascertain nor define. If 
moral causes were as rigid in their succession as many 
natural ones, and if the circumstances of events were not 
perpetually changing, the history of the past would be the 
prophecy of the future. If there be no chain of connexion 
which binds human events, then we cannot reason from what 
has been to what will be ; and we must peruse the annals 
of mankind with as little profit as we read a romance. But 
it is obvious that the value of historical records depends upon 
their accuracy ; for the truth alone will enable us to pene- 
trate those motives, which furnish the true key to unlock 
the recesses of the heart. Hence the importance of rigid 
investigation, and of extensive collections, where accounts 
can be collated and corrected. We have in our own history 
several remarkable incidents, showing the facility with which 
error may be propagated and doubts raised, even in ques- 
tions relating to the most solemn and notorious transactions. 
The Declaration of Independence purports to have been 
adopted and signed on the 4th of July, 1776; yet, there 



23 

are names of persons affixed to it, some of whom were not 
then in Philadelphia, and others were not, at that time, 
members of the venerable body, which gave this magna 
charta of freedom to the world. And the name of one, at 
least, who was present at this great event, supporting the 
measure with his voice and vote, is omitted in the journals. 
These facts were disclosed in the interesting statement made 
some years since by Governor McKean, wherein he mod- 
estly, but decidedly, asserts his rights as a participator in 
the honor and danger of this appeal, which then was re- 
bellion, but whose character was changed by the events it 
ushered in. 

The true province of the historian is now better understood 
than formerly. Time has been, and not long since, when all 
narratives were considered as entitled to almost equal credit ; 
when the habit of severe investigation was no part of the 
qualification of the historian; and more especially in the an- 
nals of antiquity which have come down to us. In this spirit 
Rollin compiled his voluminous work, and he gravely relates 
incidents as he found them, without any discrimination 
between the degree of credit due to an eye-witness, who 
records events as we might expect to find them, and to the 
relater of incredible traditions, worthy only of perusal as 
evidences of human credulity. Herodotus himself, whose 
history was composed for the purpose of being recited, not 
read, and whose dramatic manner and imaginative mind 
prove the early age in which he wrote — Herodotus, who 
recorded the early fables of his country, and the strange 
tales he had heard in other lands ; who believed the oc- 
currence of all the events repeated through a succession of 
ages, from sire to son, and who recited his work to a be- 
lieving people — this father of the art furnished, for centu- 
ries, not the outline only, but all the details of early pro- 
fane history; and kindred authors, who wrote later, but 
still with the same credulity, were received as unerring 



24 

guides in exploring the mazes of human actions, in distant 
regions and ages. The charm of style, the splendor of elo- 
quence, the grace of rhetoric abound in these compositions, 
and they are inestimable as pictures of early manners, and as 
vehicles of early opinions : but no scholar would now trust 
these narratives without proper scrutiny, whenever the inci- 
dents are improbable in themselves, or whenever there is rea- 
son to believe the proper sources of information were not 
within the reach 'of the writers. The philosophy of history 
requires laborious investigation and deliberate decision. We 
are not without an illustration of this proneness to believe, in 
the history of our own continent. We can produce an Argo- 
nautic expedition, as irreconcilable with the physical geogra- 
phy of the country as that of the Colchian adventurers, and 
less worthy of trust, because more inconsistent with the 
moral habits and the social and political condition of the race 
of men, who then inhabited the El Dorado, where this party 
of robbers wandered and fought for six years. Commenta- 
tors have gravely perplexed themselves and their readers in 
endeavoring to trace the course of this expedition, and have 
brought to the task as much zeal, if not as much learning, as 
has been employed in tracing the route of Jason and his fel- 
low-travellers. A golden fleece was the object oi both ex- 
peditions, and both sowed dragon's teeth, which sprang up 
into armed men. Hernando de Soto landed in Florida 
during the prevalence of that auro mania which impelled so 
many armed adventurers upon this continent to desolate the 
country they came to search, and to lay the foundation for 
the ruin of that which they left. All is dark and doubtful in 
his adventures. Where he marched, the obstacles he en- 
countered, the people he found, the time he remained, and 
the principal details of his journey, I consider as uncertain as 
the feats of the celebrated wanderers of antiquity. That one 
thousand men, with three hundred horses, could be subsisted, 
year after year, in any portion of the Indian country ; that 



25 

they found continuous settlements, great towns^ always with' 
in view of each other ; that they could be induced by any 
consideration to roam for six years, through those vast re- 
gions, surrounded by numerous and active enemies, and 
finding, in all this time, scarcely any of that precious metal, 
which alone furnished the object of their search, I cannot 
bring myself to believe. There is little verisimilitude in all 
this. The moral habits of the aboriginal inhabitants cannot 
deceive us. They are as unchangeable as the Arabs. Their 
mode of life, in the earliest periods they were known, was 
the same it has be^n since, and as it is to this day, with slight 
variations. But the historians of De Soto's adventures de- 
scribe another race of men. And who are these historians? 
One of them was either not born at the tiine of the expedi- 
tion, or must then have been an infant. His narrative was 
principally compiled from the verbal statement of a partici- 
pator in the expedition, at least forty years after its termina- 
tion, eked out by some uncertain papers. The name of the 
other is unknown, and consequently all the extrinsic circum- 
stances necessary to give weight to his narrative. And both 
were utterly unacquainted with the language of the Indians, 
as were the whole expedition ; depending in their intercourse 
upon such means of communication, as chance threw in their 
way. Each has in turn been distrusted by respectable his- 
torians, through each has also found advocates. I consider 
both unworthy of credit. We can never be satisfied, that they 
relate facts as these occurred ; while we are certain, from 
intrinsic evidence, that much which they do relate, is wholly 
fabulous. There are wanting the great sources of credit upon 
which all history must rest : confidence in the knowledge, 
judgment, and integrity of the writers, comparison with the 
general course of facts, as made known to us through other 
channels, and a natural concurrence between the transactions 
as recorded, and the condition and motives of the actors. A 
standard, constructed upon these principles, and applied to 
4 



26 

these accounts, would reduce the authentic details of this ex- 
pedition within very narrow limits ; and would leave them 
wholly unworthy of credit for the only rational purposes, 
which could render them valuable, as illustrations of the man- 
ners of the time and the condition of the people, who then 
inhabited the southwestern parts of the United States, and 
as records of a daring adventure, selfish in its origin, romantic 
in its progress, and just and melancholy in its fate. 

Historical associations have been formed in various parts 
of our country. Many interesting documents have been pre- 
served and published by them. Their objects, however, are 
generally, if not local, yet limited to particular sections ; and 
thus not interfering with the more extended range, which we 
have proposed for our labors. The collection, which is form- 
ing and printing under the patronage of the United States, is 
a subject of interest with all, who feel the value of these pur- 
suits, and must tend to animate and encourage them in their 
course. The diligence of the compilers has already rescued 
from oblivion, probably from destruction, many interesting 
and curious papers, illustrating important events in our his- 
tory ; and the sources of information, that are open to them, 
promise a still more abundant harvest to their labors. But 
we may glean where they have reaped, and we may per- 
haps discover fields, which they have neglected. The news- 
papers and the fugitive publications of the day become val- 
uable documents in a few years after they have issued from 
the press. Newspapers, particularly, present a living and 
moving picture of the times ; and complete files of those of 
our own days will furnish for posterity the most abundant 
and authentic materials for history ; or rather they will be 
history itself — a history of the thoughts, words, and actions of 
men — a history of national intercourse, of the state of society, 
of the progress of opinion, of the advance of literature and 
the arts, of the mutations of government, and of the rise 
and fall of nations. What treasures to those who come after 



27 

us, will be complete collections of these publications ! What 
treasures to us would be similar collections, depicting events 
in ages that have gone by ! Who would not read with un- 
speakable delight a gazette of Palos, issued the day of the 
embarkation of Columbus, and describing the agitation, the 
hopes, and fears, of those, who assembled to witness his de- 
parture ; the firmness of the ocean hero, the mixture of 
confidence and doubt in his followers, the equipment of his 
vessels, and all the variety of details, too low, it is falsely 
thought, for history, but not too low for natural and laudable 
curiosity ? And who would not feel his blood flow quicker 
at the perusal of a paper, issued from the press, while his 
fleet was casting anchor, after its return from the discovery of 
a world — when conjecture had become certainty, prophecy 
history, and when Columbus had prepared for himself that 
simple but sublime epitaph, which was almost all an ungrate- 
ful country left him, and which announced to the observer, 
that the marble he gazed on covered the remains of him, who 
had given a new world to Castile and Leon ? 

But, besides the value of these remains as materials for his- 
tory, they are interesting memorials of by-gone times. They 
are precious relics, which appeal to the best emotions of the 
human heart. They associate us with past events, rendering 
brighter and darker the virtues and vices, which variegate the 
retrospect, that is spread out for our impi-overaent. He, who 
has not felt this power of association, is little to be envied. 
He would stand upon the plain of Lexington and forget that 
the silence of its peaceful village had ever been broken by that 
sound, which aroused a whole continent, and whose echoes are 
yet reverberating among the nations of the earth. He might 
sail among the islands of Lake Erie, unmindful of those who 
sleep below him, and recalling none of the proud incidents, 
which marked the triumph of Perry, and which will forever 
illustrate the scene of his victory. The deep waters may 
cover it, as they now cover the site of the great naval conflict 



28 

which humbled the pride of the Persian monarch and saved 
Greece from his yoke. But American patriotism will sanctify 
the one, as Grecian patriotism has immortalized the other. 

One of the greatest writers of modern times has said that 
" to abstract the mind from all local emotions would be impos- 
sible, if it were endeavored, and would be foolish, if it were 
possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our 
senses ; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future 
predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of 
thinking beings." 

And yet, fresh as our country is, we are not entirely with- 
out those impressive evidences of mutability, which so often, 
in the older world, arrest the attention of the traveller, and 
excite melancholy but profitable reflections upon the vanity of 
human expectations. The North and the South each offers 
one striking illustration of this gradual decadence and total 
desolation. In a little and sheltered nook upon the shore of 
Lake Huron, the Jesuits, those early and indefatigable labor- 
ers in the interesting cause of aboriginal civilization, formed^ 
in the seventeenth century, an establishment for the instruc- 
tion and conversion of the numerous tribes, who occupied 
those then remote regions. They named it, from their own 
apostle of missionaries, St. lgnace,and it grew and flourished, 
and extended its influence over the countries bordering the 
internal seas, which are there spread out in such magnificence 
and beauty. At the same time, the first capital of Virginia 
was firmly established, improving and holding out the prospect 
of a long career of prosperity. Where are they now — this 
seat of pious effort and of Indian improvement, and this colo- 
nial capital, this renowned Jamestown, the cradle of Ameri- 
can civilization ? I have stood upon the ruins of both, and 
marked the desolation which has overtaken them — a desola- 
tion so complete that not one building remains, where all was 
once so busy, happy, and prosperous. He, who leaves such a 



29 

scene, will leave it with emotions, fitted to make him a wiser 
and a better man. 

It is this principle of association, which impels us to gaze 
with such untiring interest upon those memorials, that have 
been connected with great events, or with names of renown, 
which sends us to our own archives to look upon the Decla- 
ration of Independence, or to examine the commission of 
Washington. It should be one of the great objects of all his- 
torical societies to gather as many of these relics as possible ; 
to save them from the hazard of destruction and from the use- 
lessness of disperson ; to collect them where they may be 
preserved with jealous vigilance, and where, by concentra- 
tion, they will excite the attention and stimulate the exertion 
of all lovers of literature. These things will go down to fu- 
ture generations, increasing in interest as they increase in 
years. Europe is rich in such memorials of antiquity ; and 
her splendid collections are among the most powerful attrac- 
tions, which entice our countrymen to her shores. Time has 
not yet mellowed our institutions ; but we can garner up for 
others, though not for ourselves ; we can lay by treasures, 
whose value will increase beyond the dreams of avarice. 
Let us do so. Let us, at any rate, lay the foundation. The 
superstructure may never be finished ; but it will go on in- 
creasing in interest, useful in its freshness, and venerable in 
its decay. 

In all researches into the history of this continent, we have 
one advantage over every other people. Our origin and 
progress are within the reach of authentic history ; we have 
no fabulous nor doubtful eras to perplex investigation and to 
provoke discussion. We have, indeed, one remnant of an- 
tiquity, one surviving memorial of a former and unknown state 
of things — one race of men, whose origin is as doubtful as 
their fate. Their past and future are equally closed to us, and 
it were vain to attempt to penetrate the one or the other. 
They were here when Christian banners were first displayed 



in evidence of Christian claims to the country, and they are 
here yet, unaltered in all the essential points of character, 
opinions, and institutions — a moral phenomenon in the crea- 
tion of God. If we have no broken columns nor dilapidated 
walls to carry us back to the infancy of time, few crumbling 
monuments to teach us lessons of humility, we have a living 
memorial, more solemn than these; it has been around us and 
among us ; but it is receding from us — whether to plant itseli 
in the solitude of the prairies and forests, in the vast regions 
of the West, and there to flourish or to die, is known only to 
Him, who controls the destiny of the red man, as well as of 
the white. Let us indulge the hope that the prospects of the 
aboriginal race are brightening ; that their removal and re- 
establishment in the trans-Mississippi world will elevate their 
ho])es, stimulate their exertions, improve their condition, and 
gradually prepare them for the full blessings of Christianity 
and civilization. But whether they are destined to rise from 
their ruins, or to disappear, they still present one of the most 
interesting topics of speculation, which can engage the atten- 
tion of the rational inquirer — one of the most singular chap- 
ters in the whole philosophy of human nature. Much has, 
indeed, been written about them — much, no doubt, that is 
true, but a great deal that is false, and still more having a ten- 
dency to make false impressions. This is not the time nor 
tiie place to enter into an investigation of the causes, which 
have operated to give us so much of the romance, so little of 
the reality of Indian life. Some of these, however, are upon 
the surface, and may be glanced at. Our nomadic tribes are 
borderers, keeping upon the circle of civilization, and rece- 
ding as this advances. They speak peculiar languages, radi- 
cally different in their syntax and structure, from those of the 
nations of Christendom. They are brought into contact, by 
their business and intercourse, with persons having neither 
the inclination nor the information necessary to pursue inves- 
tigations into the moral habits, histor}', and condition of this 



31 

primitive race. They are, withal, suspicious, neither seeking 
nor yielding confidence with facility, incapable of abstract 
speculations, or of aiding in them, credulous, and too often 
insensible to the obligations of veracity. The difficulty of 
penetrating the recesses of such a people is obvious, in- 
creased as these are by the incompetency of the usual me- 
dium of communication. Under such untoward circumstances, 
what has already been done, instead of discouraging, should 
stimulate us. Our military posts furnish excellent places of 
observation, where the best materials for Indian history can 
be collected ; and the graduates of the Military Academy, who 
are sent there, could not devote their leisure to a pursuit 
more interesting in itself, nor richer in the rewards it offers. 
Their education gives them the proper qualifications, and the 
whole philosophy of the Indian condition is open to their in- 
vestigation. A proper series of inquiries, prepared with a 
view to a common operation, and transmitted to these aboriginal 
observatories, would furnish a most interesting subject of in- 
quiry ; and, if prosecuted with zeal, would lead to the collec- 
tion of a mass of materials far more valuable than has been 
heretofore procured. The traditionary legends of the Indians 
are passing away. All that is not arrested within a few years 
will be beyond the reach of recovery. Although their tales 
of former ages cannot be viewed as authentic materials for 
history, yet, they may dimly shadow out events, which have 
left no other memorials ; and they are valuable as the monu- 
ments of a rude people, illustrating their peculiar opinions. 

The era of the discovery of the American continent was a 
remarkable one in the history of human society. The decay 
of the Roman empire was attended by circumstances too well 
known to require enumeration. As the star of her ascen- 
dency declined, knowledge declined with it, and a long night 
of ignorance rested upon the human intellect. This period 
of mental darkness furnishes a subject of profound investiga- 
tion ; and its phenomena present a problem, whose complete 



solution is yet reserved for some acute and fortunate histo- 
rian. After the lapse, however, of centuries, the dawn of a 
brighter day began to appear. Soon the invention of printing 
and of the mariner's compass, the revival of the arts and sci- 
ences, the progress of society, and the spirit of maritime dis- 
covery combined to give new energy to the human intellect, 
and new vigor to the exertions of communities and individ- 
uals. It was at this time, and under these circumstances, 
that the Genoese navigator boldly passed the boundaries, 
which till then had repelled all efforts to penetrate beyond 
them, and opened, to the enterprise of one continent, a new 
and boundless theatre for exertion in another. Few events 
in the history of man can compare with this discovery. We 
are yet in the infancy of our career, and already the march of 
events has hurried on with an accelerated progress, which no 
sagacity could have forseen, and which no power can check. 
The impress of civilization is upon the whole continent, from 
Labrador to Cape Horn. Thirteen independent communities 
have asserted the right of self-government and have assumed 
their stations among the nations of the world. The Alle- 
ghany and the Andes have been ascended, the Mississippi 
and the Oronoko have been navigated, the prairies and the 
pampas have been traversed and explored. Such a field of 
enterprise and exertion, under circumstances so favorable to 
the development of the human powers, has never been offered 
to the industry and emulation of man. 

It is a curious and interesting topic of speculation, and one 
worthy of the attention of the philosophical historian, to trace 
the causes, which have produced such a marked difference in 
the character and progress of the colonies, founded by the dif- 
ferent European nations upon this continent ; more particu- 
larly in those, which owe their origin to Spain and England ; 
as the decendants of these countries have almost divided be- 
tween them the entire hemisphere. At the period of the dis- 
covery, Spain was one of the most prosperous nations on the 



'o3 

globe. In literature, in arts, in arms, she was at the head of 
the great European confederacy. Upon land, she was power- 
ful and victorious, and soon after, she held in captivity the 
King of France for many years. Upon the ocean, her armada 
rode in triumph, and if England was saved from invasion, she 
owed her safety, less to her own prowess, than to that elemen- 
tal war, which human might cannot withstand. We have 
seen, in our own times, another armada, marching to conquest 
Avith a power never, perhaps, united into one body since the 
days of Xerxes; we have seen it wrecked in the frozen re- 
gions of the nortli, scattered, broken, destroyed, by the storms 
of an arctic winter. If such lessons are melancholy, they are 
instructive — instructive to rulers and people. They incul- 
cate humanity and moderation. They show how Providence 
frustrates the hopes and efforts of the warrior. And while 
they exhibit the energy and success of defence under appa- 
rently unequal circumstances, they tend to check the pride of 
conquest, and to render the fate of nations more stable. 

Spain prosecuted her maritime adventures with great spirit 
and success. The colonists she sent out were numerous, 
powerful, well equipped, having little to fear from the abori- 
ginal inhabitants, and were planted in the most favored re- 
gions of the globe. Her early efforts were directed against a 
half-civilized people ; and her armed hordes, infuriated with 
the passion for gold, descended upon this unfortunate race 
with the violence and the destructive effects of a whirlwind. 
The contest, if contest it could be called, was soon over, and 
when opposition ceased, oppression began. Thenceforth, a 
just system of policy and a course of gradual improvement, 
would have rendered these western empires enduring monu- 
ments of Spanish wisdom. What they have been, and are, is 
known to the world. 

The progress and result of the colonization system of Eng- 
land presents a far different picture. Her efforts were di- 
rected to a less genial glimalc, to a less fertile soil. Her 
5 



34 

bands of emigrants were not armed soldiers, prepared to 
overcome and seize regions in the jx)ssession of a people, 
who had made considerable advances in cultivation and im- 
provement. The principles of religious liberty sent to these 
shores the founders of a large and interesting section of 
the republic. And who, that looks back upon their des- 
perate efforts, upon their quiet resignation, upon their 
abandonment of all the comforts of life, can withhold the 
tribute of admiration for their generous devotion, and for that 
high and holy enthusiasm, which enabled them to dare and 
do all that history has recorded of their trials and suffer- 
ings and exertions. Never was bark freighted with a more 
precious load than the Mayflower, which bore the little band 
destined to lay the foundation of a mighty community in the 
deep forests of the western world ; which bore them to their 
home, to be made such by their toils, their anxieties, their 
hopes, by the triumphant consolation that the peace of God, 
which passeth all understanding, was theirs, without the per- 
secution of ruler, priest, or people, and to be made such by 
their graves. They stepped upon the monumental rock of 
Plymouth, the door to them of a new world, in the depth of 
winter, and wholly unprepared for its rigor. To depict their 
sufferings were a useless task. History has recorded these 
in imperishable terms. They passed through them, one after 
another, with the fortitude of Christians, and the exertions of 
men, and found rest in death. 

Characters are sometimes best described by a single sketch 
presenting that ruling passion 

" Where ;ilone 
" The wild are constant ami the cunning known." 

Such a sketch is furnished by the debarkation of the Puritans 
upon the coast of New England, and by the descent of Cortez 
upon the Mexican shore. When the English colonists left 
the old world, their last act was to implore the Divine bless- 
ing upon their enterprise, and when they reached the new, 



35 

their first act was to return their thanks to that Providence, 
which had protected them in their voyage across the ocean. 
Before they left their vessel, they prescribed and established 
a form of government, in which they declared they had un- 
dertaken to plant the fnst colony in the northern parts of 
Virginia, for the glory of God and the advancement of the 
Christian faith, and for the honor of their King and country. 
What a contrast is presented between the humble appear- 
ance and the lowly and subdued spirit, but firm purpose, of 
these self-expatriated men, and the Spanish invasion, with 

" The neigliiiig steed and the shrill trump, 
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, 
The royal banner, and all quality, 
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war." 

The English colonists were impelled by their high regard for 
the rights of conscience ; the Spanish conquerors, by the 
thirst for gold. The bible and magna charta were borne by 
the one, and the sword, the cross, and papal decrees by the 
other. The physical and moral results are before the world, 
and promise to go down to after ages, furnishing one of the 
most impressive lessons in the whole history of man. 

A spirit of religious liberty, similar to that which led to the 
planting of New England, though in less intolerant periods, 
gave birth to two other States of our Union, and all of them, 
that were early settled, were settled without the aid of Gov- 
ernment, and by individual enterprise and suffering. Vir- 
ginia preceded all her sister colonies in the career of set- 
tlement, and the first permanent establishment, made in the 
United States, was upon the bank of her noble river, 
which still washes the deserted site of Jamestown, her 
early metropolis. The Starving-time yet lives in her 
annals, and the term expressively depicts one of the ter- 
rible calamities to which the founders of our republic 
were exposed ; and which leave to their descendants but 
little room for the exercise of fortitude in the compara- 



36 

tively easy process of extending the dominion of cultivation, 
from the secure lodgments made by such sacrifices, even 
to the far-distant ocean upon our western border. Seldom 
has the most wayward imagination imbodied such ideal ad- 
ventures, as mark the character of this period, carrying the 
romance of life to the very verge of credibility. The almost 
miraculous preservation of Captain Smith, the hero of this age 
of enterprise, from the doom pronounced upon him by the 
Indian chief, Powhatan, may well vie in interest with any 
incident, that has come down to us. The appeal of Pocahon- 
tas to her father, that the white stranger might live, and her 
noble interposition in his favor, furnish an admirable illustra- 
tion of the deep affections of a woman's heart. Clime, color, 
age, nation, these are but adventitious circumstances, when 
danger or distress makes its appearance, and female benevo- 
lence is ready with its consolations to relieve the sufferings 
of life, or to assuage the terrors of death. And it is satisfac- 
tory to know, that this ingenuous female afterwards found the 
reward of her charity ; that she was married to a respecta- 
ble clergyman, became a convert to the Christian faith, and 
acquired the accomplishments of the age. This union led to 
a close connexion and to a long friendship between the emi- 
grants and the rude natives, which was not interrupted till 
after the death of the Indian chieftain. His daughter visited 
Europe, and was graciously received by royalty. Her de- 
scendants yet survive among the most respectable families of 
Virginia. They may well look back with pride to the virtues 
of their progenitor. 

These colonies, thus founded, have now become a mighty 
people. With what progress and prospects, it needs not that 
I should tell. Nor is it necessary, for any purpose I have in 
view, to run a parallel between them and the other indepen- 
dent Governments which occupy this continent. The differ- 
ence, however, is sufficiently obvious to justify an inquiry 
into the cause. And what is this cause ? A full answer to 



37 

the tjuestion, involving all the considerations connected with 
it, would cany me far beyond the limits I have prescribed to 
myself, and would, indeed, require illustrations I feel unable 
to present. But the seeds of freedom, civil and religious, 
were sown by the English colonists. These have sprung up 
and borne the goodly fruit of improvement and prosperity. 
The true principles, indeed, of the rights of government and 
of conscience were not fully understood, when the English 
settlements were commenced ; and still less when Spain laid 
the foundation of hers. But the Anglo-Saxon race had long 
possessed institutions, whose tendency was favorable to the 
developement of the human faculties, and to the gradual meli- 
oration of their political system. When the causes, resulting 
from this state of things, were once in full operation, these 
people sprang forward in the great race of improvement, and 
identified themselves with the advance of knowledge through 
the globe. Where these advantages were unfelt, exertion 
was paralyzed, education neglected, and the human faculties 
rendered stationary. 

There are six periods in the history of the United States, 
separated by epochs, which resemble the elevations in the 
journey of a traveller, that enable him to stop and contemplate 
the country he has passed. These periods are different in 
interest and duration ; but each is marked by an historical 
unity, necessary to bind together detached portions of any 
great course of events. It is by this distribution into groups, 
that the human mind finds itself able to grasp the vast variety 
of incidents, which make up the annals of a country. These 
divisions may be denominated the period of the discovery, 
extending from the time this part of the continent became 
known to Europeans, to their first permanent establishment; of 
settlement, including the long interval between this establish- 
ment and the conquest of Canada ; of civil dissension, com- 
mencing immediately thereafter, and terminating in open re- 
sistance ; of revolution, including the war of independence; 



38 

of the confederation, reaching from the conclusion of peace to 
the adoption of the present Government ; and of the constitu- 
tion, extending to our own times. These designations have 
no claim to actual precision. They indicate only the leading 
features of each period, those which gave to it its peculiar char- 
acteristics. 

It is no part of my object to detain you by a formal disser- 
tation upon our history, colonial or independent. I restrict 
myself to a few general observations, connecting these eras 
with the practical purposes of our association. 

The spirit of adventure, which displayed itself in the voyages 
of maritime discovery, from the middle of the fifteenth to 
the middle of the seventeenth Centuries, was one of the most 
striking chaiacteristics of modern times. There was, in these 
perilous efforts, a stiange combination of daring enterprise, 
of patient fortitude, of avaricious cupidity, of mercantile 
speculation, and of enlarged philosophical views; and all 
these were frequently intermingled with religious enthusi- 
asm. This last trait is singularly and almost irreverently 
exemplified by the watchword and countersign given out 
by Frobisher, when his fleet was prepared to sail upon 
his principal voyage of discovery. The one was. Before 
the world ivas God; and the other. After God came Christ 
his son. Portugal sent out Vasco de Gama to explore a 
route to Ilindostan, and to open for the west a path 
through the ocean to the rich products of the cast. And 
his successful voyage round the southern promontoiy of 
Africa, furnished Camoens one of the most splendid epi- 
sodes which genius ever invented, or taste embellished. 
And the Spirit of the unknown ocean, who rose up to 
defend his dominion from the audacious stranger, will 
ever live in the Lusitanian poem, though he has long 
since been driven from the seat of his mysterious power 
by the fleets that have ploughed every wave, from the 
Bay of Biscay to the Chinese sea. 



89 

Spain accepted the proffered services of Columbus, and 
has identified her own name with the discovery of a 
world. How easily does the course of human events baf- 
fle human sagacity ! At the time the little fleet, destined 
to produce such a revolution in physical geography, and 
to open the way for such wonderful changes, left the shores 
of Spain, her inhabitants looked back to the achievements 
of the past, and boasted of the renown of their ancestors, 
as the real treasure of national glory. They were pioud, 
chivalrous, and great. Yet that small naval expedition, 
which was then sailing over a trackless ocean, and which 
had departed almost Avithout observation, was destined to 
add imperishable fame to the Spanish name. Her martial 
glories have faded away, her names of renown are disre- 
garded or forgotten, but the inscription upon her escutcheon, 
the evidence of her spirit of adventure, still remains. Her 
heraldic pillars yet bear the motto of " Plus vltra,'''' and 
while her language is spoken over the vast regions she 
first explored and settled, history will award to her the name 
of the Discoverer. 

England and France soon followed in the race of adven- 
ture. The French navigators Verrazani, Cartier, and Cham- 
plain, and the English Cabots, Willoughby, Chancellor, 
Frobisher, Hudson, and BafiRn extended the boundaries of 
geographical knowledge. The improvements, which have 
since taken place in ship-building and navigation, render 
almost incredible the authenticated statements of the size and 
equipments of the vessels employed in these hazardous 
enterprises. The flag-ship of Columbus was less than one 
hundred tons, and three of his vessels were half-decked 
shallops. Frobisher performed his first voyage with two 
small barks, one of twenty-five, and one of twenty tons, 
and a pinnance of ten tons. And Davis commenced his ca- 
reer of adventure with two vessels, the Sunshine, of fifty 
tons, and the Moonshine, of thirty-five. And this was the 



40 

Scale of preparation for researches over unknown seas, and 
into the most remote regions of the globe. And it is won- 
derful to reflect on the energy and success, with which these 
daring mariners penetrated the desolate regions of the arc- 
tic circle. With all the wealth and skill of modern times, 
we are but little in advance of the geographical knowl- 
edge, they acquired and bequeathed to us. And Hudson, 
and Baffin, and Davis have given their names to the seas 
and strait they explored ; and which, after two centuries- 
of national and individual exertion, are yet upon the very 
frontiers of human knowledge. 

Sir Walter Raleigh, renowned for his accomplishments, 
his adventures, and his melancholy and unjust fate, is in- 
timately connected with this portion of our history. He 
fully participated in the spirit of the age, and entered 
zealously into many of the enterprises, which were pro- 
jected and carried on in search of gold, but which led to 
far loftier events. The first English colony, planted in 
America, was sent out under his auspices, and established 
itself upon the island of Roanoke, in North Carolina. This 
was soon broken up, and was succeeded by another, de- 
spatched by the same indefatigable navigator, and which 
chose for its site the spot that had been once before se- 
lected and abandoned. The fate of this last colony was 
never ascertained. It disappeared, but why, or how, was 
unknown then, and is unknown yet. Internal dissensions, 
famine, the hostilities of the Indians, the hardships incident 
to these efforts, and the disappointment of excited expect- 
ation, all these, and other causes destroyed, for many 
years the settlements, which were successively established 
upon our coast. Gold was the great object of specula- 
tion. "There was no thought," says one of the histo- 
rians, in the quaint language of his day, "no discourse, 
no hope, and no work, but to dig gold, wash gold, refine 
gold, and load gold." Till time and experience had sub- 



41 

dued this passion, the sober pursuits of life could furnish 
no sufl&cient inducements for exertion. 

This age of adventure offers enough of incident, of char- 
acter, of splendid success, and of fatal disaster, to stimulate 
the inquiries of all, who have the taste and the opportunity 
for investigation into these by-gone times. And the vague 
uncertainty, which rests upon the fate of some of these ex- 
peditions, and upon many important details connected with 
almost all of them, while it furnishes additional motives for 
the pursuit, gives to the narratives of these early efforts that 
romantic interest, which is equally delightful to youth and 
age. 

The example of Biddle and Irving has taught us how much 
industry and critical sagacity, with favorable opportunities for 
their exertion, may add to our stock of information, by ex- 
ploring original collections. There is much in these expe- 
ditions, which requires elucidation. If the age, in which they 
were prosecuted was an adventurous, it was also a credulous 
one. The more accurate information, we have obtained, of 
the regions visited by them, enables us to fix the scenes of 
their explorations, and to verify their statements by those 
great natural features, which are not subject to change. The 
voyage of Verrazani along almost all our coast, and that of 
Hudson to the Northern States present questions for inter- 
esting investigation. 

The period of settlement embraces an interval of about a 
century and a half. And while its progress was marked by 
extraordinary vicissitudes, it was still advancing with a ce- 
lerity before unknown in the march of society. Never was 
the prophetic declaration, that a little one shall become a 
thousand, and a small one a strong nation, more wonderfully 
fulfilled, than in the planting and rearing of these colonies. 
A few hardy adventurers seated themselves upon the shores 
of the ocean, in a distant and unexplored region. An in- 
terminable forest was around them, and a fierce and treach- 
6 



42 

erous foe occupied its recesses. In the providence of God, 
they were sent out, to suffer in their day, but to become 
glorious in their generation. And well did they fulfil their 
destiny. We are now a community of fifteen millions of 
people, and yet I have often conversed with a venerable 
relative who was a cotemporary of the first child born to the 
pilgrims, after they landed upon this continent. What an 
almost overpowering image does this simple fact present of 
the progression of this federated empire ! And where is the 
forest, which then shut in the adventurers upon the brink of 
the sea ? And where are the nomadic tribes, the untame- 
able warriors, who stood up in their path, and said, You shall 
go no further ! Let our fields and villages, our towns and 
cities — let our cheering prospects, the evidence and the ef- 
fect of human industry and enterprise — let the peace, and 
plenty, and prosperity of a happy land, covered with a busy 
population, enjoying the blessings of equal government, of a 
benign religion, and of intellectual improvement — let all 
these explain how the forests have been brought low, and 
how the great circle of cultivation has spread itself, even to 
the vast lakes of the North, and to the trans-Mississippi re- 
gions. And let the feeble remnant of the primitive race 
pronounce their fathers' fate, and their own doom. While 
we look back with feelings of commisseration upon their suf- 
ferings and declension, it would be miserable affectation to 
regret the progress of events, which has removed a people 
who have thus far shown themselves, if not incapable of im- 
provement, yet so intractable in their nature, and inveterate 
in their habits, as to hold out no rational prospect of moral 
and physical advancement; at any rate, while in immediate 
contact with a difierent and superior race, and which has 
opened one-fourth part of the globe to the empire of intellect, 
and to the efforts of communities, which will reclaim and 
subdue it, and cover it with millions upon millions of human 
beings. That this great continent might offer its proper 



43 

tribute of grateful hearts upon the altar of the Most High, it 
was necessary that the red man, who had roamed over, 
rather than possessed it, should become amalgamated with 
the white stranger, who came with all the elements of supe- 
riority, or flee before him into the recesses of the forest or 
of the grave. The union was impossible, and the decree 
soon went forth that the primitive race must yield. And it 
did yield. And the evidence is before us and around us in 
the fruits of our fathers' exertions, and of our own. 

During this interval of our colonial history, which was, in 
fact, our heroic age, there were three principal series of 
events, which now arrest the attention of the observer, and 
which form the marked features of the times. These were 
the progress of settlement, the wars Avith the Indians, and 
the participation with the mother country in those severe 
contests, which she waged against France, upon this conti- 
nent, and which were terminated by the brilliant campaign, 
conducted under the auspices of the elder Pitt, and closed 
by the battle under the walls of Quebec — where the victor 
and the vanquished poured out their lives together, display- 
ing traits of moral greatness, which will forever vie with the 
finest scenes that the historians of antiquity have painted for 
our instruction or emulation. 

The character of our ancestors took its impress from the 
stormy events, which surrounded them from the cradle to the 
grave. They were nurtured in hardships and exposures; their 
manhood was devoted to the fields of labor and of battle ; and 
their old age, when they lived to attain it, was too often in- 
terrupted by the Indian war-whoop, that signal of death, 
which, once heard, is never forgotten. This school of ex- 
ertion and exposure, during six generations, produced those 
distinctive traits of character, which belonged to our fathers : 
that physical courage, that firmness of purpose, that patient 
endurance, which fitted them for the mighty struggle they 
were destined to undergo, when they suddenly appeared 



44 

upon the great theatre of action, and to the surprize of the 
world resisted, and successfully, too, the efforts and the 
power of a mighty nation. 

Many objects of interesting inquiry present themselves 
during this period ; particularly in relation to those statistical 
facts, that mark the progress of a country. There is, here, 
scope enough for the industry of all, who have any taste for 
these pursuits. The advance of population ; the extent of 
territory under cultivation at different periods ; the value of 
manufactures, and the amount of trade, foreign and domestic, 
are subjects comparatively unknown to us. And it must be, 
that there are many documents yet in existence, which 
would afford valuable information upon these topics. There 
is, too, a practical question in political economy, interesting 
at all times, and which, at this period, divided the infant 
communities ; and that is, what are the circumstances con- 
nected with a paper circulation, which may render such a 
measure both safe and expedient ? Many experiments on 
their currency were made, the effects of which were durable. 
I consider the early experience of our ancestors in this mat- 
ter, as furnishing a most valuable chapter in the history of 
trade, and one which may be studied with advantage, when- 
ever the principles regulating this delicate subject are called 
up for discussion. 

The history of human enterprise scarcely records a series 
of events more strking than those, which attended these col- 
onial establishments. From the first moment when a Eu- 
ropean footstep was imprinted upon the beach, till the last 
Indian council-fire was extinguished in blood, there was a 
succession of border hostilities — of terrible conflicts, on one 
side for vengeance and destruction, and on the other for ex- 
istence. I would not, if I could, spread before you the hor- 
rors of such a warfare. Something of it I have seen ; but I 
should have no pleasure in describing, nor you in listening 
to its appalling details. Like those awful tempests, which 



45 

display the power of the Ahiiighty, and humble the pnde ol 
man, a peaceful and happy country is before it, but behind 
it are murder and desolation. In other wars, the parties 
fight for victory. Here, the white man fights for life. And 
when the storm bursts upon his settlement, he fights for all 
that renders life desirable. When the slumbers of the night 
are broken by the shout of the Indian, the stoutest heart may 
quail. How many times has the sun gone down in peace 
upon a smiling village, and risen upon a lurid prospect of deso- 
lation. 

I do not mean to say that the white man was always right, 
and the red man always wrong. I do not mean to deny that 
the ancient possessor had too often just cause to complain, 
that his inheritance was violently reft from him, or craftily 
obtained. And the tradition, that the first settlers upon a 
part of the coast, asked for a seat which could be covered 
by a buffalo robe, and then, cutting this into thongs, took 
possession of all the land it would encircle, if false in fact, was 
certainly true to the feelings of the Indians. 

Ancient chronicles have brought down to us a similar tradi- 
tion respecting another barbarous people, separated by a wide 
interval of time and space from our aboriginal inhabitants. 
The legend of the flight of the Tyrian colony under Dido, 
and its establishment upon the African coast, says that they 
purchased of the indigenous people as much land for the site 
of Carthage as could be covered by a bull's hide, and then 
dividing this into the smallest strips, claimed all embraced 
within it. Virgil has recorded the purchase, but omitted the 
deception, out of tenderness, perhaps, to the memory of the 
deserted and disconsolate queen : 

" Mercatiqiie solum, facti cle nomine Byrsam, 
Taurine quantum possent circumdare tergo." 

But the piece of land as big as a hide was the purchase, as 
described both by the Eastern and Western primitive posses- 



46 

sor. However or wherever the traditions may have origin- 
ated, the coincidence of sentiment is interesting, as is the 
proneness of barbarous people, while they feel the superiority 
of civilized men, to attribute all the difference, which results 
f?-om the intercourse, to cunning rather than to wisdom. 

But the period, w^e are now passing in review, is memora- 
ble in the history of the world for the introduction of one 
great principle of legislation, which is slowly intrenching 
itself in the codes of modern nations, and which, we may 
hope, is destined ere long to be recognised in all. During 
many centuries, religious toleration was unknown in the most 
enlightened countries of the earth. If, in our own days, a 
mighty potentate could say, / am the state, in former days 
every potentate could say, / am the religion. The Church 
and the Government were faithful coadjutors, mutually pro- 
tecting and protected by each other. The rights of con- 
science were practically the duty of believing and professing 
the established religion. If, occasionally, some powerful in- 
tellect displayed itself in advance of the age, and asserted the 
freedom of religious discussion, there was power enough and 
will enough to stop the progress of his doctrines, and to consign 
the heretic to those punishments, which either produced his 
recantation, or sent him to the eternal reward of his errors. 
vStrange, indeed, that when the cross of Christianity surmount- 
ed the capitol of Rome, and ascended the throne of the 
Caesars, a spirit of intolerance should accompany it, as irrec- 
oncilable with the principles of Him who had died upon it, 
as it was at variance with the Catholic sentiments of the age. 
The polytheism of the old world, monstrous as it is in the 
eye of reason and of Christian faith, possessed the attribute 
of tolerance ; and, if nations seldom fought for their own re- 
ligion, they seldom, like crusaders, attacked that of others. 
But as the power of Christianity increased and extended, the 
opinions of the rulers of the church became the standard of 
doctrine, and he who exceeded or fell short of this infallible 



47 

test, was punished with relentless severity here, and doomed, 
with all the arrogance of presumption, to eternal misery here- 
after. When Christendom had submitted to this hateful rule 
for centuries, a feeble light began to break upon the gloom, 
and doubts were suggested how far the rights of conscience 
should be thus controlled by the civil magistrate. But the 
principles of religious freedom, as they are understood and 
secured here, seem to have had no advocate, if indeed they 
found a single friend. Exemption from the persecutions of 
the state was all that the most liberal inquirer into the rights 
of the church and the duties of its members claimed for schis- 
matics ; and even this boon was seldom obtained, and then 
rather by a kind of political sufferance, than by a direct me- 
lioration of these false institutions. And every political 
change, which led to the ascendency of a persecuted party, 
while it gave them the power enjoyed by their predecessors, 
was sure to carry with it the same principles of bigotry and 
vengeance. Neither the experience of the past, nor a just 
regard for the future seemed to produce any effect upon the 
head or heart. And this, with slight exceptions, was the 
state of the Christian world, when possession was taken of 
this hemisphere. The infant legislatures of two of the colo- 
nies, now States of this Union, were the first authorities, in 
modern times, that practically asserted the only true doctrine 
of religious liberty. They burst the bonds, which, till then, 
had bound the judgment and conscience of mankind, and pro- 
claimed the great truth, that government and religion have 
no lawful connexion with each other ; that political associa- 
tions are the work of man, for the protection of his rights and 
for the improvement of his capacity ; but that religion is from 
above, and is a question between the creature and the Crea- 
tor ; that the civil magistrate should secure to all the right of 
worshipping God in their own way, and that the ensigns of 
man's authority should stop at the door of the temple, and not 
be profanely intruded into the presence of the Most High. 



48 

I do not stop to inquire whether Rhode Island or Maryland 
was the first in this career of religious knowledge and free- 
dom. It is a question, which has been zealously discussed, 
and I leave it for those who take an interest in such investiga- 
tions. I claim for our common country the renown which is 
due to the recognition of this great principle, as we all claim 
to be the countrymen of Washington, though his natal spot 
was in Virginia. 

The acute metaphysician Locke was practically connected 
with the early political institutions of the United States. He 
was called upon by the proprietors of South Carolina to pre- 
pare a frame of government for that colony, and he furnished 
one, which, in its utter failure, presents an instructive lesson 
to all, who are disposed to substitute their own crude notions 
for that experience, which ought to guide us in the establish- 
ment of fundamental principles. His cumbrous system, with 
its palatines, its landgraves, its caciques, its baronies, its 
minute and vexatious regulations, and its centennial annihila- 
tion of all laws was declared to be perpetual. It lingered 
along, reprobated by the people, to whom it gave neither 
peace, security, nor prosperity, and, at the end of twenty-five 
years, it sunk under the weight of opinion ; a just rebuke to 
that presumption, which undertakes to prescribe a constitution 
for a distant country, whose condition, character, and wants, 
can only be known by intimate personal acquaintance. 

The exertions and sacrifices of the colonists, in aid of the 
hostile operations of the British against the French posses- 
sions upon the North American continent, are, perhaps, bet- 
ter known than any other portions of our ante-revolutionary 
history. During these wars, their contributions of men and 
means were stupendous, when their population and resources 
are fairly examined. And the successful expedition to Louis- 
burg, fitted out by the Eastern colonies, and which terminated 
in the reduction of that important and strongly-fortified place, 
is among the most striking and romantic adventures in the 



49 

wars of modern times. And this spirit was displayed at 
Crown Point, at Ticonderoga, at Montreal, at the Havana, 
and wherever this then loyal people was called to rally round 
the banner of Saint George. 

This was the course of events, which, co-operating with 
the moral influences that belonged to the time and country, 
formed the character of our ancestors. These spirit-stirring 
scenes acted in harmonious concert with those strong qualities 
which in England overturned the monarchy, and which event- 
ually sought refuge beyond the Atlantic ; and with those 
principles of freedom, fruits of the Anglo-Saxon institutions, 
that were cherished in every hamlet, from the St. John's to 
the St. Mary's. 

One impressive reflection forces itself upon us, in connexion 
with the close of this act in the great drama of American his- 
tory. We are forcibly reminded by it of the strange mutabil- 
ity of human affairs, and of the vanity of human expectations. 
The conquestof Canada was the theme of universal congratula- 
tion in this country and in England. That region was bought 
with a great price, and it was supposed, that a long course of 
intimate and mutually beneficial connexion was now open to 
the parant nation and her colonies, no longer exposed to the 
danger of French power and machinations. And yet this 
very success, splendid as it was, certainly accelerated those 
events, which ended in the disruption of the two countries. 
Had the Canadas continued under French dominion, it is 
possible that our Independence miglit have been postponed 
for a long, if not for an indefinite, period, and it is probable, 
that it would not have been achieved till long after the era 
of its actual establishment. External pressure would have 
operated to prevent internal dissensions. And the constantly 
impending position of the French and Indians, would not 
only have rendered British protection more valuable, but 
would have kept up that excitement, which seems part of our 
7 



50 

social system, and which soon displayed itself in political dis- 
cussions and political claims. 

And this brings us to the most interesting portion of our. 
whole social existence as communities — to that bright era, 
when human rights were investigated and practically assert- 
ed with an acuteness of intellect, a power of knowledge, and 
a firmness of purpose, never before exhibited to the world. 
This was no time of abstract speculation. There were then, 
no day-dreams of metaphysical philosophers. Claims were 
asserted by the imperial legislature, which, had they been 
submitted to, would soon have led to the prostration of that 
goodly fabric of freedom, which had been reared by all the 
sacrifices, that present themselves in such bold relief, when 
we look back upon the pictures of the past. Then were 
formed the characters of those eminent men, who stood for- 
ward to guide the public councils, and to conduct, at the great 
tribunal of public opinion, the cause of human rights. The 
first promulgation of an intention on the part of the British 
Government, to interfere with the internal political institu- 
tions of the country, was the signal of universal discontent. 
And as the project approached its maturity, so did the public 
feeling approach its crisis. Some vacillation was manifested 
by the English cabinet during these proceedings. Occa- 
sional gleams of sunshine appeared through the clouds that 
covered the heavens — occasional glimpses of returning sense ; 
but the scheme went on. The obnoxious taxes were im- 
posed, and the tea ships were sent out, practically to enforce 
its collection. The result is matter of history. Like the 
sentence of the Swiss patriot, this decisive measure brought 
all discussion to a close, and united the whole country in a 
fixed determination to maintain their freedom. As these 
measures proceeded, the whole science of politics, in its most 
extended signification, was freely debated in public and pri- 
vate assemblages, and discussed through the medium of the 
press. There were here few of those prejudices, which else- 



51 

where are ingrafted by habit upon the intellect, and which 
assume the aspect of established principles. Our forefathers 
had always been free, and in some parts of our country, 
on their first arrival, they formed small democracies, where 
every man exercised a portion of the supreme power. As 
they increased in numbers, and extended in space, this form 
of administration became impracticable, and it was so far 
modified, as to permit the most important functions to be per- 
formed by the representatives of the sovereign constituents. 
But, still, in all essential features, these early communities 
were as free from restrictions, as any political associations, 
that have existed in peace and prosperity. 

Seed sown upon such a soil could not but vegetate. And 
this did so, as luxuriantly and rapidly as the quickest plant that 
springs into life in the brighest island of the ocean. Many 
a fervid mind was at work upon the foundations of society. 
Many a received dogma was swept away with contempt. It 
is not a little curious to compare the advance of society in 
some of the most important elements of human knowledge, at 
different stages of its existence. It will be found, that some- 
times centuries roll away, while certain great departments of 
science are stationary, if not retrogressive. At other times, 
these are pushed forward with wonderful rapidity, like the 
spring, that has long been coiled and is suddenly unbent. 
Who can point out a single advance in the most important of 
mere human institutions, that of governing society, during cen- 
turies of the most enlightened period of antiquity ? Wherein 
was the theology of the Roman empire better than the reli- 
gious fables of Greece, or their prototypes, nourished under the 
shade of the pyramids ? In the philosophy of the intellect, 
who was ever made wiser by the metaphysics of Aristotle ? 
And who does not know, that his system of dialectics ruled 
the world of mind, from his own era down to the very dawn 
of our day ? — ruled it with absolute sway, affecting not only 
to teach the way to knowledge, but to contain within itself 



52 

the very cycle of all that was known, or could be known. 
Studying nature in the closet, instead of walking abroad and 
surveying her works; not proceeding by induction, and de- 
ducing general laws from the operations of the world, but 
rashly advancing theories, and then boldly promulgating 
them, as the laws impressed by the Creator upon universal 
matter. 

The principles, asserted during the discussions that took 
place upon the alleged supremacy of the British legislature, 
were broadly and deeply laid. Their consequences were not 
confined to this country. They were borne over the Atlan- 
tic, carrying back a portion of the debt, which we owed to the 
old world, for all we had received from it. Many a barrier, 
which time and power had erected, and behind which false 
institutions had intrenched themselves among the nations of 
the world, has fallen before the sound that has gone forth 
from our own land, as the ramparts of the city, which com- 
manded the entrance into Palestine, fell before the fearful 
blast, that was blown by the order of the Jewish leader. This 
warning voice has been heard and heeded throughout our own 
vast hemisphere, and has called upon the descendants of the 
invaders and the invaded, to rouse themselves from their in- 
cubus, and to pronounce the doom of tyranny and their own 
emancipation. France heard it, and burst the bonds of licen- 
tious oppression with an energy, which awed the world. And 
if she has not reaped the full harvest of her exertions, she has 
at least renovated her social system, and struck down many 
parasitical plants, which, in the hot-bed of corruption, had 
started into being, and were feeding upon the very means of 
her existence. The resonance has spread over Europe, warn- 
ing its governments, that the day of accountability is ap- 
proaching, and proclaiming that the happiness of the people is 
the great object of political associations. And the crescent 
has waned before it, and has gone down upon the land of 
Themistocles and Miltiades. Even Greece is reviving, and 



53 

ii her people cannot rival the fame of their ancestors, they 
may yet become prosperous and contented. The successor 
of Mahomet has caught the inspiration, and the shores of the 
Bosphorus, the scenes of early civilization, and of many a 
deed of renown, are emerging into light ; and the echo is as- 
cending the Nile, and perhaps may be heard, ere long, among 
the ruins of Thebes, awakening the silence of centuries, 
and rousing the land of the Pharaohs and Ptolemies to a 
sense of its past glory and its present degradation. 

This interval of our political existence was the school 
of Washington, and Franklin, and Jefferson, and Adams ; 
and of the other able and virtuous men, who were raised 
up by Providence for the work they had to do. Here their 
faculties were invigoiated, and their knowledge extended, 
by the severe discipline they underwent. All the incidents 
of this period are interesting and instructive, and every relic, 
which yet remains of it, should be preserved with jealous 
affection. There must be many a precious document mould- 
ering in the cabinets of the descendants of these mighty and 
master spirits. Let me invite their production as tributes to 
departed worth, as incentives to living virtue, and as lessons 
to us, and to those, who are to follow us in this land of their 
affection. These troublous times, however, were succeeded 
by a still more perilous period. Deliberation, and discussion, 
and remonstrance, were suddenly abandoned, and the mus- 
ketry at Lexington announced that the arbitrament of reason 
had yielded to the ultimate argument of nations. 

And thus commenced our revolutionary career — that stage 
in our national existence, which was marked by as desperate 
a struggle as any people ever encountered and survived. Its 
incidents, its alternations of hope and despair, its exertions, 
its long duration and its final triumph, why advert to these ? 
Are they not written in burning characters upon the mind and 
memory of every American ? New facts may be disclosed, 
and many of those, which have been recorded, may be coirect- 



54 

ed ; traits of character, not heretofore recognised, may be 
developed ; motives may be impugned or justified ; but the 
great leading events of this contest are before the world, and 
are beyond the reach of misapprehension. 

The peace, bought by these sacrifices, was succeeded by the 
period of the confederation. The articles of union were, indeed, 
in force during the war, but their final adoption did not take 
place, till it had been six years in progress. And it is evident, 
that it was the external pressure, and not any principle of co- 
hesion in this instiument, which united the States in the great 
^vork of defence. When this pressure was removed, the 
articles of confederation became the only ligament of connex- 
ion, and their inefficiency soon displayed itself. The seven 
years embraced in this period are a monument, as sacred to 
our country, as was the memory of the pillars of fire and of 
cloud, to the people of God, which guided them in their mi- 
raculous journey from their exodus out of the land of Egypt to 
their entrance into the land of Canaan. The exertions of the 
war were succeeded by lassitude. The ordinary business of 
life had been suspended, and its occupations destroyed. 
There was no commerce, external nor internal. The currency 
had been wholly deranged by the issues of paper, resting on 
no solid basis, and which sunk by its own weight, till it be- 
came entirely valueless. As this was a legal tender, property 
clianged possession, too ol'ten without any just consider- 
ation. Great distress was induced by these circumstances, 
and the aflairs of life were every where deranged. There 
was nothing abroad to compensate for distress and inefficiency 
St home. Our credit was annihilated, and foreign nations 
were unwilling to enter into negotiations with us, because 
the Government was unable to fulfil its engagements. The 
friends of liberty throughout the world looked on with regret, 
fearing the entire failure of the great experiment, which had 
been committed to us. And patriots at home, who had never 
desj^aired in the darkest day of the war, now confessed their 



55 

apprehensions, and doubted the end of their own work. All 
accounts, both documentary and traditionary, concur in de- 
picting, in the gloomiest colors, the state of the public pros- 
pects and of the public feelings, and the individual distress, 
which pervaded the whole country. But there is one re- 
deeming trait in all this gloomy retrospect, one distinctive 
mark of character, too honorable to be overlooked. The in- 
stitutions of society still went on, and with one local and incon- 
siderable exception, uninterruptedly. The General Govern- 
ment was, in fact, expiring and the State Governments were 
relaxed and powerless. They were without revenue or re- 
sources, or strength. Such a state of things, in any other 
country, would have rent society to its foundation. It would 
have dissolved into its constituent principles ; and if these 
were ever to be re-combined, the process would not have 
been owing to any natural affinity, but to another agent, to 
that military despotism, which, as it is the last curse of de- 
graded nations, so is it the first step in their regeneration. 
But there were causes in operation here, which saved us 
from this calamity. The machine of authority went on by its 
own momentum, like some piece of mechanism, whose 
principle of motion is suspended or destroyed, but which still 
pursues its movement from the impulse it has acquired, and 
goes on, declining indeed, and with less and less force, but 
still performing its functions. And here were seen the effects 
of moral habits, and of piinciples early taught and ingrafted 
upon the frame of society. Life, liberty, and property were 
protected, and public opinion took the place of organized 
authority ; and society was preserved from convulsion, till 
the general sense of the countiy reinvigorated the State Gov- 
ernments, and with one voice demanded an amendment of 
the articles of confederation. The measures, taken to give 
effect to this expressed will, ended in the formation of the 
present constitution. 



56 

In looking back upon these stages of political existence, 
it is impossible not to be struck with admiration, at that wis- 
dom, which has conducted us, by these progressive steps, from 
infancy to maturity; from a small band to a great people. 
Why, in the dispensation of Providence, this great continent 
was so long shut out from the knowledge of that portion of 
the world, best prepared by its state of improvement to re- 
claim and subdue it, and to people it with intelligent beings, 
capable of assuming that rank in the scale of creation, which 
it is given to man to reach, it were as presumptuous to in- 
quire, as it would be impossible to tell. It must be left 
among those mysteries, which, if they are ever revealed to 
us, will be revealed in another state of existence. When, 
however, the time had come for the ocean to give up its 
mighty secret, and to make known the fertile regions beyond 
its waves, then commenced the operations of those secondary 
causes, by which the great designs of Omniscience are carried 
into effect. A new world was to be peopled. Immense 
regions were to be laid open and cultivated. The feeble 
race, roaming over them, as improvident and almost as ig- 
norant as the animals, their co-tenants of the forests, which 
ministered to their wants, were to give place to another gen- 
eration with higher powers, and a far nobler destiny. It 
may be, that the red man had been tried, and found wanting ; 
that, in the course of migration, from the cradle of mankind 
in the fertile plains of Asia, he had been conducted to this 
other world, with the same means of meliorating his condi- 
tion, and of advancing in the great career of improvement, 
which had been given to the kindred stock he left behind ; 
and having failed in the execution of this trust, that he had 
been given over to the consequences. However this may 
have been, small settlements were necessary upon different 
parts of the coast, that the process of cultivation and increase 
might go on under the most favorable circumstances. Such 
settlements were planted. And that these might enjoy the 



57 

benefits of the necessary government, to preserve internal 
tranquillity, and to repel external aggression, different com- 
munities were requisite, with separate powers, as the cir- 
cumstances of the times forbade distant communication. Lo- 
cal governments were thus formed ; the germs of future colo- 
nies and states. Without the protection of another and pow- 
erful nation, these infant establishments would have fallen 
before the original possessor of the forest, and the ally he 
ibund upon the St. Lawrence. This, too, was provided ; 
and thus we have all the means of future growth and power. 
These communities were small, enterprising, and industri- 
ous; and they brought with them all the knowledge of their 
times, and the principles of rational freedom. Their political 
operations invigorated their fLiculties, and still led them on- 
ward in the career of advancement. By-and-by, they be- 
came numerous and powerful ; and higher destinies opened 
before them. A new chapter began in their history ; and 
they were called upon to test their knowledge, and to ex- 
plore the duties and obligations of political associations ; to 
examine with jealous scrutiny their own rights, and the cor- 
relative obligations of the parent government — in a word, 
to investigate all the principles of civil liberty, and to com- 
prehend the whole science of politics. But this knowledge, 
acquired by more than a century of practical freedom, and 
invigorated by fifteen years of public discussion, was useless, 
unless these independent communities could be united to- 
gether, and enabled by this union to assert and maintain their 
rights. But they had all the seeds of segregation, which, 
from the nature of man, belong to distinct associations, and 
they could only be brought together by some common force 
pressing upon them. This force was applied, and they were 
taught that union gives strength ; and that though sepaiated 
for all the purposes of internal administration, they must be 
joined for the great objects ol foreign intercourse. And they 
had yet another lesson to learn : that their general association 
8 



58 

must possess sufficient strength, or it would fail them in the 
hour of need. This lesson they learned during seven years' 
experience — during seven years of inefficient existence, 
which conducted them to the very brink of that gulf, in 
which the hopes of so many republics have perished. And 
thus they reached the dawn of that day, which opened upon 
them with such bright prospects. They had not only re- 
ceived the priceless gift of a free and equal government, but 
by a peculiar course of events — may we not say, by the pe- 
culiar dispensation of Providence, they had not only received 
it with all the moral means necessary to its preservation, but 
in a new form, adapted to their peculiar condition, and suited 
to avoid the evils, which have elsewhere, and in other times, 
overturned republican governments. This principle of fed- 
eration was about to be tried and the great experiment was 
committed to this people under these imposing circumstances. 
But I have reached the boundaries of our association. I 
am approaching a debatable land, into which I must not 
enter. Our province is the past, not the present nor the fu- 
ture. The past, which offers its rich stores of experience, 
and not the present, which applies them, or the future, which 
they shadow forth. How wonderful are the destinies com- 
mitted to that future ! How vast are our own interests, which 
are involved in it ! That Providence, before whom time 
stands still, has guarded and guided us in our infancy. Let 
us hope that He will protect us in our maturity, till, in his 
own good season, his designs shall have been consummated, 
and our fate furnish another lesson, to be studied in after 
ages, by those, who may seek instruction from the records of 
human virtues and human errors. 



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